The bags are packed, the Land Rover is nearly ready, and we're just hours from setting sail for the Great White North. As many of you know, yours truly is joining a college/ham friend Scott Andrews WB4VMB for a 3-week expedition to the Yukon and Northwest Territories. Our primary destination is Inuvik, the farthest north you can drive in North America, at least during the summer (in winter, the frozen McKenzie River doubles as the main drag to Tuktoyatuk). Maybe with the Land Rover Discovery, we'll can push that distance a little further.

Our final, pretty much positive, yep-this-is-what-we're-gonna-do-yabetcha itinerary calls for me, Scott, and his 10-year-old son, Phillip, to leave tomorrow for Chicago. We'll then spend the next few days working our way through the Dakotas (where Scott did USGS work in graduate school). At midweek, we'll meet up with Scott's wife Martha (the smart one--she's flying in), then beging the dash to the Yukon, then up the Dempster Highway, hoping to make Inuvik Friday (8/15). After a few days seeing the sights, we'll then spend the next week working our way back south, to Yellowknife, capital of the Northwest Territories. From there, Martha and Phillip will fly back to get the boy ready for 5th grade, and Scott and I will head for home.

Quite an adventure, eh? That's why I hope to share some of these exploits with y'all via e-mail wherever possible. Hopefully, my lemon of a laptop will survive the journey and I'll be able to check in wherever possible. I may not be a Chuck Woodbury (see the "Out West" website, www.outwestnewspaper.com), or a Mark Twain (website unkonwn), but I'll try.

Now, for the most important question: why Inuvik? Well, for one, as most of you know, I have an affinity for things Northwestern (none of my ancestors wandered too far outside greater Prince George County, Va., so I reckon there's a lot of pent-up wanderlust inside). But though it may be a little chilly up there, I'll leave the Seahawks jacket at home (not sure it'll fit any of those polar bears anyway). Second, Scott has been eager to take his new Rover on a road-trip adventure. We'd talked about many places in BC and Alaska before coming upon the story of a convoy of Volkswagon bus enthusiasts, who made a similar treck from Vancouver to Inuvik last year.

Then, of course, is the Yukon's fabled history. It's hard to believe that only 100 years ago, men and women literally dropped what they were doing, invested life savings, and set out for the Yukon in search of gold. Some did strike it rich, most left poorer than they were before, others never left at all. Our goals are a little more modest--to get some good stories and pictures about a land that paradoxically is as unknown as it is legendary.

Finally, I guess it's just that natural curiosity to find out what's at the end of the road. For example, my 1995 trip to Bella Coola, BC, took me from the open rangeland to lush valleys bordered by snow-capped mountains (no wonder it reminded the Scandanavian settlers of home). These road, like life's options, are there for a reason. And sometimes, ya just gotta know what's there.

So, we'll try to keep in touch as often as possible. Special thanks to my big brother (and Webpage Czar of Charlottesville) for developing the site and agreeing to download the dispatches. Also thanks to IABC member extraordinare Val Mellesmoen, Press Secretary for the NWT, who provided some valuable information about what we're about to get ourselves into. Also, hats off to those plucky Volkswagoneers, who went before us and proved that this trip could be done.

Well, time to get some sleep. It's off to That Toddlin' Town at 6:00 AM.